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diy dipped leg table

so i have two of these side tables that i hate and haven’t used in a long time. they’re tiny and not my style. and dirty (after being stored in the basement for years).

they were a desperate purchase five years ago when we moved to our condo and needed nightstands pronto, but i was having a hard time finding tables small enough. they were cheap (maybe $20 each?) and fit, so i brought them home. since they provided no storage, they were soon replaced with nightstands from ikea (which coincidentally, i hate too. someday i’ll have nightstands i actually like.

anyway, we needed a side table next to the glider in the nursery so we have a place to put water while nursing, books, and whatever else. though i would love to buy a table i actually like, i figured i would save money and refinish one of the tables i had sitting in the basement since the small size fit the space perfectly.

a recent trend is dipped leg furniture, which i’ve been loving, and i thought this was a perfect time to try it out with the simple lines of the table.

another essential product for pregnant ladies (as well as anyone not pregnant) – a mask.

for my paint, i chose a glossy navy blue for the main table color, and white for the dipped part of the legs, in a flat finish for even more contrast. and i used spray paint because it is so easy to work with, especially for a smaller project like this. (because i chose a navy blue, i decided to also use a gray primer so i wouldn’t need to do as many coats. if i chose a lighter color, i probably would not have used a primer since i sanded my table).

i first lightly sanded the table to 1. remove some grime and 2. help the paint stick even more.

after cleaning off all the dust and any leftover grime, i lightly sprayed a couple coats of the white paint on the bottom half of the legs, as the white finish needed to be freshened and brightened up.

(you can kind of see the difference in the whites – bright white towards the top of the photo/bottom of the legs).

i then measured, marked and taped a line on each of the legs, about six inches up from the bottom (six inches was just a random height that seemed good to me). to protect my fresh white finish from any over spray, i covered the bottom of the legs with paper below my crisp tape line (do as i say and not as i do – cover the entire surface you want to protect. no matter how careful you are, spray paint really travels through the air).

next came the primer, applied in a couple light coats.

{coat one}

{coat two}

finally came a few light coats of navy blue. (notice a trend? the key to spray paint is several light coats to avoid drips). after the final coat of blue i removed the paper and tape to reveal my dipped legs (and the tape worked great – such a crisp line, with no paint taken off).

the blue wasn’t as dark as i had hoped, but overall i’m loving my dipped leg table.

i love how the navy blue and white ‘stripe’ looks next to the striped crib skirt i made.

the official before and after:

my navy blue spraypaint was put to use for another project too – stay tuned.

Love the dipped legs! I’m planning on doing this to a small table that I’m putting in my office for the printer. The legs are turned though so we’ll see how tough it is to tape a crisp line around them 🙂